JANESVILLE--The Janesville Craig softball team got solid pitching from two freshmen, and the Cougars split a doubleheader Saturday to open their season.

Jenna Brandt pitched a complete game as Craig topped Fort Atkinson 5-2 in the first game. Julia Humphrey went the distance in the second, but Milton’s Courtney Terrill stumped the Cougars in a 5-1 Red Hawks victory.

“I think the first thing is both of our pitchers, especially Brandt, were in control,” Craig coach Dan Bayreuther said. “It was fun to watch Brandt pitching in the first game.”

Brandt struck out two and walked none over seven innings. Gabby Loveland and Laura Heilman each had doubles for the Cougars.

Those hits were much harder to come by in the second game. Terrill gave up just two of them in seven innings and struck out six batters.

“She kept us off-balance the entire game,” Bayreuther said. “We didn’t have an answer for her. She threw a lot of changeups, and we weren’t patient enough.”

Humphrey was snakebit by a couple early errors but settled in. She struck out two and walked one.

“They got three runs on four errors in the first two innings,” Bayreuther said. “After that, I thought Humphrey did a great job.

“If they can continue to do that and we clean up our defensive mistakes, we’re going to be in a lot of games.”